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Report of 

Old Fort Nassau 

Colonial Monument 

Commission 

of New Jersey 



920 





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Miumuut i-iT</tr(l liy llir State <if X( w .Tci'scy to (•(.iniiionunato 
Old Fort Nassau and tho settldiKiit i>f the lldllaiHl Dutch in 1(523, 
a' Gloiircster City, N. J. 



OLD FORT NASSAU COLONIAL MONUMENT 
COMMISSION. 




[OnX HENRY FOB' 





FRANK 11. STEWART 



ALFRED M. HESTON 



Report of 

Old Fort Nassau 

Colonial Monument 

Commission 

of New Jersey 



1920 



I. F. HUNTZINGER COxMPANY 

PRINTERS 

119 Federal Street 

Camden, N.J. 






MARl 11922 

DOCUMENTS UiV.ilON 



' ' Report of the Old Fort Nassau Colonial Monument 
Commission of New Jersey. 



After the discovery of America in 1492, till about 1584, 
very little was done in attempting to colonize the new world 
and most of the voyages were for additional discoveries, 
and to find, if possible, a passage to China, or far Cathay, 
as it was then called. In 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh fitted out 



ERRATTA : 

Page 4, line 18— read "1623" for "1621." 

Page 5, line 38^read "1664" for "1684." 

Page 6, line 18 — read "ninety- five years" for "thirty-five," or 

elsewhere if so stated. 
Page 24, line 13 — read "known" for "know." 
Page 24, line 39 — read "fidus Achatus" for "fidu Aehatus." 



various personages or companies allowed the Dutch to 
develop the country occupied by them. The Virginia 



V\3l 



' 'v 



Report of the Old Fort Nassau Colonial Monument 
Commission of New Jersey. 



After the discovery of America in 1492, till about 1584, 
3ry little was done in attempting to colonize the new world 
ad most of the voyages were for additional discoveries, 
tid to find, if possible, a passage to China, or far Cathay, 
3 it was then called. In 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh fitted out 
n. expedition and it landed on the coast of what is now 
illed North Carolina, and others made voyages as far 
orth as New Foundland, and from then on, fairly accurate 
irveys of prominent rivers and bays were made and located 
y latitude and longitude. The place the Raleigh expedi- 
on landed at was called Roanoke, but the few settlers dis- 
ppeared and it was not till 1607, that the Virginia Colony 
^ttled in that territory and named it after the virgin queen, 
'he charter of this company was formed after the East In- 
ia Company 's and covered land along the sea littoral from 
egree 34 to 45, and w^as divided into two coloniaJ sections, 
le 1st, South and the 2nd, North. The promoters were from 
Bristol and Plymouth, and the only limitation upon them 
'as subjection to the Supreme Council of the British Gov- 
rnment. As the territory along the Atlantic Coast was so 
ast, extending from New Foundland, to what is now South 
!arolina, and all the terrain extending inland from rivers 
nd bays flowing into the Atlantic, it w^as quite impossible 
or Great Britain to hold actual possession of these lands, 
nd so in 1608, the Dutch, under the name of the United 
[etherlands, settled in New York under a survey by Henry 
ludson, wliich England claimed as he was an English citi- 
en, but who had the year previously visited, while in the 
mploy of England, Long Island and the Island Manhattan, 
nd founded the city which the Dutch called ' ' New Amster- 
lam." Great Britain beyond protesting against these set- 
lenientS) made for a long time no effort to dispossess the 
)utch, and beyond granting in a general way charters to 
arious personages or companies allowed the Dutch to 
levelop the country occupied by them. The Virginia 



Charter covered all land from degree 34 to 45, which in- 
cluded what was afterwards called New England, New York, 
New Jersey and all other lands adjacent to the coast as far 
as was within these degrees of latitude. So that New Jer- 
sey was originally part in the Virginia-South, First divi- 
sion and the other part in the Second or Northern division 
of what was afterwards claimed as the Plymouth Colony. 

Presuming that their claim to New York, called New Hol- 
land, and inland New Belguim, would not be disputed, the 
Dutch, wlio, at that time, had the carrying trade of the 
World, sent an expedition to what afterw^ards became New 
Jersey, under Capt. Cornelius Mey, who sailed up the novv- 
Delaware River, as far as the mouth of the BigTimber Creek 
where it empties into the now Delaware River, and named 
Cape Mey, after himself, and the Bay and River Zudt or 
South Bay and River or the New Netherlands River and Bay 
after the land they claimed and settled upon. This was in 
1621, and the .settlement at or near what is now Gloucester 
City, was the first white settlement in West Jersey. Captain 
Mey built a log stockade or fort, which was for protection 
against the Indians, and named it Fort Nassau, after a town 
in the Rliinish Provinces in Germany. Settlement was made 
here and while the people traded with the Indians, who, 
while Mey was there, were friendly — either because they 
were afraid of his cannon on his ships or his friendly treat- 
ment — he employed the time in exploring the territory. He 
finally returned to New Amsterdam, leaving a small colony 
at Fort Nassau Settlement, as it was called, and not until 
1631, was the settlement visited by Europeans, when Capt. 
David Pieterson De Vries, on behalf of the Dutch West 
India Company, touched there intending on establishing a 
colony, and had ample stores for the purpose. He found the 
first settlers had eitlier been murdered or carried away 
and Old Fort Nassau destroyed by fire, and he erected a 
new Fort, which naturally, was named after the first, which 
was always referred to as Old Fort Nassau in contradis- 
tinction to the new one. It was the erection of this new 
Fort, by Capt. DeVries, that has lead to the confusion as 
to the site of Old Fort Nassau, for after its destruction the 
settlement was known by the name of the old Fort. The 
location of the second Fort may have been on the so ith 



side of Big Timber Creek, for at the time that DeVries 
visited the New Netherlands, as New Jersey was then 
called, the Swedes, nnder Gustavus Adolplms, were at- 
tempting to establish colonies in the New World and dis- 
puted all claims to prior discoveries and had settled in West 
Jersey at the month of Raccoon Creek and established a 
community as far inland as Swedesborough and extending 
as far as the Salem Creek, north to Raccoon Creek, and to 
give color to their claim had purcliased the land from the 
Indians. This was in 1627. About this same period. King 
Charles the First granted a charter to Lord Ploydon, who 
settled at tlie mouth of Pensaukin Creek, aiid attempted to 
found a principality there and established an Order of 
Knighthood, known as "The Albion Knights of tlie Con- 
versioii of the Twenty-three Kings," A thousand knights, 
barons, viscounts, merchants and other adventurers were 
preparing to emigrate there and Lord Ploydon, under this 
charter, laid the whole Delaware River front, or New 
Sweden River, as the Swedes had renamed it, and the State 
New 'Sweden off into manors from the Pensauken Creek to 
Salem Creek and called New Jersey, "New Albion," when 
the Swedes suddenly swept down upon him and drove him 
and his followers out of the territory. It has been claimed 
King Charles made this grant to Lord Ploydon, prepara- 
tory to an effort to reclaim the whole of the Netherlands, ex- 
tending from the Connecticut, or Fresh River, to the Dela- 
ware Bay by the Dutch and New Sweden, or now New Jer- 
sey, Delaware and Pennslyvania, which had been settled by 
the Swedes. For twelve years the Dutch and Swedes dis- 
puted this territory, and one Swedish Governor and twelve 
Dutch Governors ruled the New Netherlands, or New 
Sweden, as respectively called by the government possess- 
ing it and after several fights, the English conquered it, and 
the Dutch and Swedes submitted to them, until finally the 
Dutch reconquered it, and finally an English fleet captured 
New Amsterdam, and Peter Stuyvesant capitulated and all 
the territory under Dutch and Swedish Dominion passed 
into the possession of Great Britain. In 1684, King Charles 
of England, conveyed New York and New Jersey to his 
brother-in-law, Duke of York, afterwards King of England, 
and he to Lord Carteret and Berkley, whose title was finally 

5 



settled by the Englisli Court, and the territory offered for 
settlers. After the battle of Sedgemoor, where the Duke of 
Monmouth was defeated and his army dispersed or cap- 
tured, many of those who escaped into Wales or France, as- 
sumed to be Quakers, to obtain the protection of William 
Penn, who had in the meantime, become one of the assignees 
of Billings, and who from a favorable report of George Fox, 
founder of the Friends or Quakers, who had visited this 
section and recommended it as a home or asylum for his 
persecuted people, established a colony here in 1676, a hun- 
dred years before the Revolutionary War, and after landing 
at Raccoon Village, at mouth of the Raccoon Creek, were 
driven from there by the Swedes and landed at Gloucester 
and finally settled with others and established the City of 
Burlington, ,which afterwards became the shire town, as 
well as the capital, of West Jersey. 

While these facts have been known for two hundred and 
thirty-five years, and Gloucester City had, in the meantime, 
grown from a small trading post to the county town of the 
first county establislied in New Jersey by direct action of 
the people, which afterwards was ratified by legislation and 
established courts, erected a jail and court house, till in 
later years, after the Revolutionary War, Camden County 
and Atlantic County were set off from old Gloucester, and 
the seat of Government removed to Woodbury, its ancient 
history has been regarded with pride, but no effort his- 
torically, to have the events marked by a monument to 
commemorate them, till in 1919, John Henry Fort, of Cam- 
den, prepared a Bill and it was introduced into the Legis- 
lature by Mr. Harry T. Rowland and unanimously passed 
by the Senate and House of Representatives, carrying an 
appropriation of $500 for the erection of a granite boulder 
or shaft with a bronze tablet giving the historical data. 

Then Governor Walter S. Edge, appointed the follow- 
ing commission: President, John Henry Fort, Camden 
County, Frank S. Stewart, Gloucester County and Alfred 
M. Heston, Atlantic County, as representing old Gloucester 
County and the two new Counties created from her. 
Gloucester City, as a settlement, dates back to 1623, and 
Jamestown to 1607, and the landing of the Pilgrims at 
Plymouth Rock, to 1620, so that while these other settle- 



ments are older than the Old Fort Nassau, yet, West Jer- 
sey and Gloucester, as the oldest town historically, was 
claimed as belonging to both the Plymouth Colony and the 
Virginia or Jamestown Colony as well, under Capt. 'Smith. 
That the citizens of Gloucester City appreciate the 
honor of having the town marked as the most likely site of 
Fort Nassau is evidenced by the fact its City Council granted 
the privilege to the Old Fort Nassau Monument Commission 
to erect the monument in its City iSquare, and that at the 
dedication over a thousand of its citizens turned out to 
parade — \vith three bands of music — and among whom 
were the Miasonic Lodge, Odd Fellows, Knights of Phythias, 
Redmen — in full uniform — Knights of Columbus, and all 
the school children of both the Public and Parochial schools. 
The latter singing patriotic airs. There were over 3000 
people at the Dedication. A descendant of one of the Revo- 
lutionary families. Miss Martha Powell, unveiled the monu- 
ment and Father Maurice E. Brie delivered the Benediction 
and Rev. R. A. Conover the Invocation. The dedicatory 
programme was very interesting and is given as published 
in the newspapers, las well as the address by John Henry 
Fort, President of the Commission, in the absence of the 
Governor. 



Programme of Ceremonies Unveiling of Fort 
Nassau Shaft. 

1. Singing — America. . .School Children and Band 

2. Invocation Rev. R. A. Conover 

3. Historic Address John H. Fort, Esq. 

4. Unveiling Miss Martha Powell 

5. Presentation of Shaft John H. Fort, Esq. 

6. Acceptance of Shaft . . Hon. David M. Anderson, 

Mayor 

7. Singing — Star Spangled Banner. . .School Chil- 

dren and Band 

8. Benediction Rev. Maurice E. Brie 

Master of Ceremonies. 

G. William Barnard, Esq. 

7 



The following is a copy of the Act of Assembly under 
which the monument was erected. 

Assembly, No. 81 



STATE OF NEW JERSEY. 



Introduced February 18, 1919. 
By Me. Rowland. 
Referred to Committee on Federal Relations. 
An Act creating a commission to mark the site of the 
settlement of the Dutch at Fort Nassau, Timber 
Creek, old Gloucester County, New Jersey, in one 
thousand six hundred and twenty-three, and defining 
it powers and duties. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of 
the State of New Jersey : 

1. The Governor of this State is hereby authorized 
to appoint three residents of this "State, one residing 
in Camden, one in Gloucester and one in Atlantic 
County, who shall constitute and are hereby appointed 
as a' commission by the name and style of the ''Old 
Fort Nassau Colonial Monument Conmiission of New 
Jersey." The term of such commission to be for five 
years and no member of such commission shall receive 
any salary or compensation for any services. In case 
of death or vacancy the Governor shall have authority 
to fill such vacancy from the county where the commis- 
sioner resided. Two of the commission shall constitute 
a quorum at any meeting. 

2. The Governor shall designate the president of the 
commission, who shall serve during the existence of 
the commission. The commission shall elect from its 
members its secretary. 

3. The commission shall have power to obtain consent 
from the owner or owners of the land on which Old 
Fort Nassau was located, a site to erect a granite shaft 
or boulder, with such description and history of tlie 
Old Fort Nassau settlement as shall be deemed advis- 
able and will commemorate the historical facts and 
proper dates. 



4. The said commission is hereby authorized to ex- 
pend the sum of five hundred dollars for the purchase 
of and erection of a granite shaft or boulder with suit- 
able bronze tablet or indented lettering thereon, and 
may invite proposals from at least five responsible 
bidders for the same, conducting business in the State 
of New Jersey. 

5. This act shall take effect immediately. 



STATEMENT. 

The purpose of this bill is to create a commission to 
mark the site of the settlement of the Dutch, at Fort 
Nassau, Timber Creek, old Gloucester County, New 
Jersey, in 1623. It defines the powers and duties of 
the commission, who are to act without compensation. 
It also authorizes the commission to spend $500. 



REPORT OF THE COUNCILMANIC COMMITTEE. 

The following- is the Resolution recommending Cumber- 
land Square as a proper site for the monument and the 
agreement of Gloucester City giving authority for its erec- 
tion therein and agreement to protect it. 

Gloucester City, N. J., August 21, 1919. 
At a meeting, held on the above date of the committee 
appointed by the Gloucester City Council for assisting the 
Old Fort Nassau Commission in locating the site of the old 
fort and settlement, the following resolution was unani- 
mously adopted : 

'* Resolved that this committee recommend to the 
commission, the spot between Atlantic Street and 
Broadway, on Cumberland Street, owned by the City 
of Gloucester City, as a proper site on which to erect 
the monument to commemorate the first white settle- 
ment in Southwest Jersey, which is now Gloucester 
City." 

Signed : 

G. William Barnakd, 
David J. Doran, 
Harris C. Powell, 

Committee. 



AGREEMENT OF GLOUCESTER CITY COUNCIL. 

Whereas, under and by virtue of Chapter 89, of the 
Laws of New Jersey, P. L. 1919, a commission of three 
was created by said act, under the name and style of 
''Old Fort Nassau, Colonial Mounment Commission of 
New Jersey." 

And whereas, under said law, the Governor of the 
State of New Jersey was empowered to appoint three 
residents of this State, one residing in Camden County, 
one in Gloucester County and one in Atlantic County. 

And whereas, by virtue of the authority aforesaid, 
the Governor of the State of New Jersey, did appoint 
the following persons, John H. Fort, President of the 
Commission, Frank H. Stewart and A. M. Heston, as 
the three members of said commission; 

And whereas, the said commission was empowered 
under the act, to obtain consent from the owner or 
owners, of the land on which "Old Fort Nassau" was 
located, to erect a granite shaft or boulder, with such 
description and history of the Old Fort Nassau settle- 
ment as they shall deem advisable as will commemorate 
the historical facts and proper dates ; 

And whereas because of the fact that it was impos- 
sible to locate the exact physical spot upon which Old 
Fort Nassau was built, the said commission has decided 
upon and agreed to accept a plot of ground owned by 
the Mayor and Common Council of Gloucester City, 
located on Cumberland Street between Broadway and 
Atlantic Street, nearest Atlantic Street, as the most 
suitable and proper location for said shaft or boulder ; 

And whereas, consent has been given by the Mayor 
and Common Council for the erection of said shaft or 
boulder on the plot of ground owned by it on Cumber- 
land Street, nearest Atlantic Street, said City; 

Now therefore, be it resolved by the Mayor and Com- 
mon Council of Gloucester City, that permission is 
hereby granted to the State of New Jersey, through 
the commission appointed by the Governor, for the 
erection of said granite monument or boulder, to com- 
memorate the erection of Old Fort Nassau, and the 

10 



Dutch settlement under Captain Cornelius Jacobesc. 
Mey, in 1623, at the mouth of Big Timber Creek, and 
it is hereby mutually agreed between the said commis- 
sion and the said Mayor and Common Council of Glou- 
cester City that the site offered by said City is hereby 
accepted by the said commission and the said Gloucester 
City to act as custodian, of the said granite monument 
or shaft and afford it every and all protection the same 
as any other public or private property in Gloucester 
City. 

Walt. W. Connelly, 
G. Wm. Barnard, 
Thomas F. Kelley, 

Property Committee. 
Gloucester City, N. J. Nov. 10, 1919. 

We hereby certify that the foregoing is a true copy 
of the Resolution adopted by Common Council, Glou- 
cester City, N. J. on Thursday Evening, November 6, 
1919. 

Chester Pancoast, 
(Seal) President of Common Council. 

David M. Anderson, 

Mayor. 

Attest : Allan W. Redfield, 

City Clerk. 



The Commission feels that it should explain the reasons 
causing it to select this site for the monument. After a 
number of trips to Gloucester City and interviews with its 
oldest inhabitants, there seemed to be differences of opinion 
as to the Old Forts' site, and as it has been two hundred and 
thirty-five years since its erection, no trace could be found 
of the old logs of which it was erected, and history is posi- 
tive that the old Old Fort Nassau was destroyed and burnt 
by the Indians and a new one erected by Captain DeVries, 
and that the Swedes had settled in West Jersey and dis- 
puted the Dutch title to the territory which fact Captain 
DeVries knew, and no doubt as the representative of the 
Dutch Colony, erected the second Fort Nassau in a more 

11 



commanding position and that those who claimed they had 
seen the Old Fort, naturally thought it was erected on the 
same spot, or was the old one which, with the early settlers, 
was destroyed by the Indians. After going over all the pos- 
sible sites in and around Big Timber Creek and up as far as 
where Little Timber Creek flows into it and it into the Dela- 
ware we found that the shore lines for nearly a mile along 
the Delaware front and a full half mile along Big Timber 
Creek, have been filled in for manufacturing purposes and 
the use of the excursion pavilions and ferry to Philadelphia, 
while the cutting off of the timber on Big Timber Creek lias 
changed the whole topography and the embanking of large 
mud flats for making meadows and the filling in of the old 
race track and river front for the ship yard, has forever 
obliterated all that section, and today the made land where 
once the water was deep enough to allow the early settlers 
to row ashore almost up to where the monument now stands, 
convinced the commission that it is as near the site of the 
Old Fort as it is possible to locate it. Besides it is an ad- 
mirable spot and the monument is, after all, only to com- 
memorate the event of which Old Fort Nassau, as a settle- 
ment, was named after in 1623. 

The contract for the monument was awarded to the 0. 
J. Hammell Co., of Camden and Pleasantville, ^and is of pink 
granite, selected on account of its durability. The dimen- 
sions of the shaft are 11 feet 6 inches in height and four feet 
6 inches in thickness. A bronze tablet — ^^vith a model of 
the Dutch ship '^Wolvis" one, if not the lactual ship he 
landed therein — is bolted to the shaft and bears this in- 
scription : 

"Erected by the State of New Jersey in 1919 to com- 
memorate the first white settlement in West Jersey, at 
the mouth of Big Timber Creek, and the erection of 
Old Fort Nassau, by the Holland Dutch in 1623, under 
Captain Cornelius Jacobese Mey, of the Dutch West 
India Co." 



COMMISSIONERS. 

John H. Fort. Alfred M. Heston. 

Frank H. "Stewart. 

12 







v-x: 



VrsscHEE's Map 1651. 

As given by Companius Nar. History of America, 

Justin Winsor, Vol. IV. 




Map op Phillip Lee, London. 

Original in Lenox Branch Library, New York. History 

of North America, by George Carlton Lee, Vol. IV. 



13 



The two maps show that Old Fort Nassau was located 
on the Gloucester City side of Big Timber Creek, furnishing 
additional data as to its location. The contract was hied 
with the Governor for approval. 



SKETCH OF OLD FORT NASSAU SETTLEMENT. 
Address by John Henry Fort„ 

Vice-President Camden County Historical Society. 

We are standing today upon historic soil, and can 
.scarcely believe that 296 years ago, the first white settlers 
in West New Jersey, landed upon the banks of the Dela- 
ware, at the mouth of Big Timber Creek. This was in 1623, 
and only one hundred and thirty-one years after the dis- 
covery of America by Christopher Columbus. At that time 
New Jersey was unnamed and formed a part of what was 
called by the early Dutch navigators, ''The New Nether- 
lands" and extended from the Connecticut River, south, 
and included New York and New Jersey, under the title of 
"The New Netherlands." The States-General of Holland, 
or the Netherlands, claimed this territory by right of dis- 
covery by Henry Hudson, an Englishman, in the employ 
of the Dutch West Indies Society. The City of New York, 
then called "New Amsterdam," was the seat of Government 
and from time to time the Dutch sent out exploring expe- 
ditions along the coast for trading purposes and discovery. 
While the Dutch claimed all this territory by virtue of the 
Hudson discovery, England also claimed it by virtue of 
the surv^eys made by John and Sebastian Cabot in 1497-98, 
from Labrador to Florida, and well defined maps show the 
various ocean coast lines along the Atlantic. 

At that early period the belief prevailed that the newly 
discovered country, was a part of the East Indies and a 
passageway was being sought for across this country to 
China. In 1623, a fleet from New Amsterdam, sailed south 
along the Jersey shore to the Delaware Bay and up it, to 
what is now Gloucester City, and landed at the mouth of 
Big Timber Creek, a colony, which erected a log stockade, 

14 



which was for protection when trading with the Indians, and 
was called *'Fort Nassau," after a town in the circle of the 
Upper Rhine in Germany, and the settlement that later 
sprung up was known as the "Fort Nassau Settlement." 
There was no attempt at that early date to divide this vast 
tract of land into States or Provinces at first, and it was 
known as *'The New Netherlands" after the home nation, 
"The Netherlands," as Holland and Belgium were then 
called. 

Believing that the newlj'- discovered country was a part 
of the Indies, several nations sent out expeditions of dis- 
covery and each nation claimed the land the navigators 
discovered. This in time lead to numerous disputes as to 
territory, and while France seized Canada and claimed part 
of what is now the United States, England, by virtue of the 
Cabot discoveries, claimed from Hudson Bay, Labrador, 
Canada and the whole Atlantic Coast line to Florida. As 
the discovery of this new World was still in a chaotic state, 
but little attention was paid to surveying any section ex- 
cept in a general way giving its latitude and longitude. The 
Holland Dutch at that time, had the carrying trade of the 
World, and sent out several expeditions to the new World, 
for trading purposes among the "Indians" as the aborig- 
ines were called under the supposition that the newly dis- 
covered land was part of India. The Holland Dutch as 
stated, claimed all the land along the Atlantic Coast from 
the Connecticut, or Fresh River, as then called, to the 
now Delaware or Zudyt (South) River and up the river 
which had not been explored beyond Cooper Creek, then 
called Asoroches. 

This vast tract of land was regarded with indifference 
at first, but after the discoverers found that a good trade 
could be carried on in the trading of furs with the Indians, 
more ships were sent out and as the natives at first were 
inclined to trade and were friendly, gradually settlements 
were made more with a view to extend trade than to es- 
tablish colonies. Thus, it was in 1623, Captain Cornelius 
Jacobese Mey visited the shores of New Jersey, then un- 
named, and part of a vast tract called the "New Nether- 
lands" after the home country, then consisting of Holland 
and Belgium. The Old Fort Nassau was a mere log stock- 

15 



ade on the shore of the point of land at the confluence of 
Big Timber Creek, and the Delaware River, which was called 
the Zuydt or South River and i3ig Timber Creek was called 
by the Indian name of "Arwames." This was the second 
West India Company and by this time a number of adven- 
turers were beginning to take passage to America. To this 
Company the States-Greneral of the Netherlands, granted 
title to this vast tract and the company, began to exploit it 
and already New Amsterdam, or New York, had sprung 
into existence and importance. The Plymouth Colony had 
landed at Massachusetts, and the nations of the old World 
began to vie with each other in exploiting the new World 
and sending out adventurers with a view of discovering what 
the new World possessed. It was found that not only a 
profitable trade could be established in furs with the natives, 
but that whales and fine fish and rich minerals abounded in 
the new World and the finest timber in existence, while the 
soil was adapted to raising almost any kind of vegetation. 
So that soon a flood tide of emigration started in and in 
1643, the New Netherlands had a population of three thou- 
sand, with three hundred men capable of bearing arms. 

The colony established at Fort Nassau, by Captain Mey, 
after he left it, from some reason incurred the animosity 
of the Indians, and as it was not visited by the Dutch again 
till 1631, by Captain David Pieterson De Vries, but little of 
its- history is known. The visit of De Vries showed the old 
Fort was thrown down and burned by the Indians and that 
the colonists were either murdered or driven away and 
never heard of afterwards. That the Fort was erected and 
a settlement made here at that time and the settlers mas- 
sacred, marks the era of the settlement of the first white 
men in West Jersej^, or ''The New Netherlands" as our 
State was then called. About the period that Captain DeVries 
landed at Old Fort Nassau, the Swedes had also invaded 
this territory under Gustavus Adolphus, and founded a 
colony in New Jersey and Delaware and called the Dela- 
ware Bay and River, the New Sweden Bay and River, and 
the territory New 'Sweden, and under John Printz, estab- 
lished upon the shores of Delaware a principality with regal 
powers, and on that side of the river developed settlements 
as far north as the Falls of Trenton and on the Jersey side 

16 



as far north as the Raccoon Creek, Gloucester County, and 
purchased the land here from the Indians. When De Vries 
visited New Jersey in 1631, he undoubtedly had knowledge 
of the Swedish invasion of New Netherlands, or New Jersey^ 
and a second Fort Nassau was built near Gloucester City, 
with a view of not only establishing firmly a new colony, 
but a Fort of better workmanship to command the Dela- 
ware or Zudyt River, and probably was on the other side 
of the cove called Hermaomissing. De Vries came prepared 
to establish a, colony and from that time on Holland at- 
tempted to enforce its rights of discovery and sent a fleet 
to dispossess the Swedes of the soil they occupied. 
King James also made several grants, of land in 
New Jersey, and both the Plymouth and Jamestown 
Colonies or companies, claimed part of the State, and 
King Charles granted a tract in 1631, to Sir Edmund Ploy- 
don, at the mouth of Pensauken Creek, who attempted to 
found a principality there, known as ''The Albion Order of 
the Conversion of the Twenty-three Kings" and laid off the 
Delaware shore into manors for such knights, barons, vis- 
counts, merchants and adventurers as might join his expedi- 
tion. He erected a. fort at the mouth of the Pensauken Creek 
and named the settlement after an Indian Chief ''Erino- 
weck." The object was to convert the Indians and compel 
them by trade to enrich the settlers at the same time. The 
advent of the Swedes however disrupted this apostolic 
order and what was almost a kingdom here with the Palatine 
Powers. Ploydon named New Jersey, "New Albion," after 
the old name of "Albion" of England, which became a 
matter of early history. While the Swedes claimed the 
Dutch had abandoned "New Netherlands," as New Jersey 
was then called, the Dutch would not admit it and several 
fights occurred between them and even Peter Stuyvesant, 
the Governor of the Province, came here from New Amster- 
dam with a fleet to settle the dispute. The Swedes finally 
gave in and the Dutch again came into possession. "Several 
points along the Delaware were settled by the "Swedes and 
on both sides of the river they erected forts, one at Wil- 
mington, and one at Elsinborg, in now Salem County. 

The history of Old Fort Nassau and the Nassau set- 
tlement is involved in considerable doubt as to its exact 

17 



location which probably was occasioned by reason of its 
destruction and the erection of another one afterwards by 
Captain DeVries. 

Captain Mey brought with him everything necessary to 
establish a colony and erected a log stockade near the shore 
within command of the guns upon his ship. Primarily the 
Fort was for protection and the settlers built log cabins 
for dwellings and opened trade with the Indians. The 
Indians in those days were divided into families or clans and 
were sub-divisions of larger tribes. The tribe that domi- 
nated the shore of the Zudyt or Delaware River, were known 
as the Lenni-Lenapes or first people, and the river was 
called the "Lennape Whittuck" meaning the stream of the 
Lennape. Different families or clans lived upon the various 
creeks running from the interior into the river and bay and 
these streams marked the boundaries for fishing and hunt- 
ing purposes. Very little attention was paid to agriculture 
and Indian corn or maize, beans and peas, with roots 
and certain plants, combined with bearmeat, venison, fish, 
birds, clams and oysters and wild game constituted their 
diet. The various clans were known from the names of the 
streams on which they dwelt. The Cohanseys were called 
Siconessey, the Niraticons were from Raccoon Creek, the 
Manteses from Mantua Creek, and the Armewamexes from 
Timber Creek, and the Atsions, the Minquosees, the Minhi- 
gans had names corresponding to the localities and streams 
they lived upon. These clans were subject to larger ones 
and were collectively governed by a larger chief and were 
part of the great Delaware, or Algonquin, or Iroquois 
tribes. The West Jersey tribe was not a very large one 
and was computed at about 800. The Indians were disposed 
to be peaceful, and willingly traded with the settlers, furs 
and provisions for such gewgaws and things as met their 
fancy, and this soon lead to the erection of log houses, for 
the homes of these second early settlers. The settlers how- 
ever, were more inclined to barter than seeking homes or 
developing farms. 

Just when Captain Mey left is not known, but soon there- 
after a dispute arose among the settlers and Captain De 
Vries, who afterwards, visited the site of Fort Nassau in 
1631, found no signs of the colony, but the skulls and bones 

18 



of tlicm strewn over the ground. The weakness of his force 
prevented his revenging them and lie narrowly escaped 
being murdered by a treacherous plan to entrap him in 
Coopers Creek, or "Hiorte," as called by the Indians, and 
now in Camden City. Another treaty was made with the 
Indians and another Fort Nassau again came into existence. 
The Swedes, as early as 1627, entered into New Jersey, and 
attempted to colonize it. They claimed from the Capes of 
the Delaware, first to Raccoon Creek and afterwards to Man- 
tua Creek, and even purchased the lands from the Indians 
and called the bay the New Sweden Bay and the river New 
Sweden River. The Swedes, under Gustavus Adolphus, 
attempted colonization in America, and entered into Dela- 
ware and settled about what is now Wilmington, and erected 
a fort, which they called Fort Christiana. They extended 
their possessions along the Delaware, or New Sweden River, 
into what is now Pennsylvania, as far north as the Falls of 
Trenton, upon the Delaware, and at intervals erected forts 
for defensive purposes. This was in 1638, and Fort Nassau 
by that time, was completely destroyed and the settlers 
either murdered or driven away. During all this time the 
abode of government of *'The New Netherlands" was in 
New York, or New Amsterdam, and the action of the Swedes 
was severely criticized and a fleet sent out to capture it from 
them. The Swedes had built a fort at Elsinborg, at the 
mouth of Salem Creek, which was to be a defense as against 
old Fort Nassau, which was again rebuilt, or a stronger fort 
on another and more formidable site. 

In 1655, the Dutch sent out a fleet of six or seven ships 
and surprised the Swedes, and under the command of Peter 
Stuyvesant, captured the 'Swedish strongholds and made 
them acknowledge the Dutch supremacy, both in New Jersey 
and Delaware, and as far as Fort Trinity at Passyunk. The 
Swedes had developed the country and erected churches at 
Philadelphia, Swedesboro, and Wilmington, and it seemed 
as if they would dominate the whole country, but sur- 
rendered to the Dutch and received an honorable armistice 
without any bloodshed. During all this time, old Fort Nas- 
sau was recognized as a trading post and new houses erected 
along the river and Timber Creek, and upon the surrender 
of the Swedes, Fort Nassau became the capital of the New 

19 



Netherlands, upon the Zudyt or South River. There was 
considerable feeling however, between the Dutch and 
Swedes, and while they kept up the treaty, the Indians 
smartly sold and resold the land to each, occasionally, and 
murdered settlers, as the Swedes or Dutch seemed not to 
be strong enough to punish them alone. 

The Indians had a fine sense of location and all their 
streams w^ere named after events or characteristics, the 
Mississippi meant the father of waters, and our Jersey 
streams, indicated by their names like facts for which tLey 
were known to them, the Raccoon for racoons, the Mantua 
for frogs, the Lenape, Whituck or Delaware, as the first 
peoples' river, and so the Assinuck, Pensiauken, Asoroches, 
Arwames, 'Sassackon, Remokokes and a score of other 
creeks, all had a meaning in the Indian tongue. WilliaTn 
Penn pronounced the names as very sv/eet and euphonious, 
as was their language. These creeks marked the boundary 
of tribes and clans, and were mutually respected by each 
other. Annual pilgrimages were made to the shore and 
the trails are still well defined across the Jersey pine belt, 
where they often stopped to feast upon clams and seashore 
fish, which they also dried for winter use. 

The Indians set but little value upon the land, and 
traded it for a few gewgaws, as to them it was only for hunt- 
ing purposes, and the streams were considered of more 
value. A tract of land from the Rancocas to Timber Creek 
was sold for thirty blankets, fifty pounds of powder, 250 
fathoms of wampum, a lot of knives, kettles, axes, hoes, 
mirrors, socks, anchors of rum, a few bars of lead, jews- 
harps, combs, tongs, tobacco boxes, fishliooks, spoons, 
scissors, and Dutch pipes. These articles might have been 
of more value then than now, but the Indians were w^ell sat- 
isfied as the territory was open to them for hunting and 
fishing purposes. 

In 1623, the Hermaomissing, or cove, at the mouth of Big 
Timber Creek, w^as greater than now, as it has been filled 
in by banking the mud flats for meadow purposes, and later 
improvements both in the cove and along the Delaware 
River front, from Gloucester City down, have so altered 
the conformation by from a half to three-quarters of a mile, 
that the exact site of Old Fort Nassau is lost. Even if 

20 



known, it was destroyed by the Indians, and only its site 
could be marked. Gloucester City, for many years after 
Old Fort Nassau was destroyed, was known by tradition- 
as the settlement, and had the honor or distinction of being 
the first shire town of old Gloucester County, and tradition 
lias linked it with the history of all the old traditions back 
to 1623, so that the Old Fort Nassau Colonial Monument 
Commission did not hesitate to accept the offer from the 
City of Gloucester of the square on which to locate the monu- 
ment to commemorate the oldest historical event in West 
New Jersey. 

In 1664, King Charles granted to his brother, the Duke 
of York, all the land constituting the New Netherlands 
from the Connecticut River, including New York and New 
Jersey. It is claimed he did this to settle the dispute of 
great Britain to her American discoveries. The Duke of 
York and Albany, afterwards, became the King of England, 
and the title to him and by him to others, was settled by the 
highest courts of England, and by the treaty of Westmin- 
ster, England obtained a, perfect title to the disputed ter- 
ritory. A part of this land (East and West Jersey) was 
conveyed to Lord Carteret and Sir George Berkely. 
Berkely getting into debt, conveyed his share to William 
Penn, Gauren Lawrie and Nicholas Lucas, as trustees, and 
Penn at once set about to get the Quakers to emigrate to 
New Jersey, as it then began to be called. He had heard 
favorably of it from George Fox. This with the Dutcli and 
Swedish concessions, was the beginning of title to lands in 
New Jersey, land the grants were confirmed by releases 
from the Indians. As Old Fort Nassau marked the spot 
where the first white settlers landed and was again brought 
into prominence by the erection of a second fort called Fort 
Nassau Settlement, naturally Red Bank (Udde Rude), as 
called by the Dutch, and Gloucester Point became prominent 
places, and the abundance of timber on Timber Creek 
added importance to the vicinity. In a short time the Dutch 
and Swedes, having submitted to the English, began to erect 
log homes, and the English, arriving from the mother 
country, soon formed quite large communities. At that 
time West Jersey, as it was known, consisted of only two 
counties, Burlington and Salem. Burlington extended from 

21 



the Sunpink Creek to the Pensauken and 'Salem, from there 
to the Delaware Cape, and both from the Delaware to the 
Atlantic Ocean. In 1682, Gloucester was set off from Salem, 
and its people organized the country or shire, the lirst in the 
State, and Gloucester, the outgrowth of the Fort Nassau 
Settlement, was made the shire town. Red Bank also, for 
a time, was the county town, and court was alternately held 
there. Gloucester City is named after a cathedral town on 
the Severn, "Glaw caer," meaning a beautiful town, soon 
became the recognized county seat and the people of Old 
Gloucester adopted the first constitution in America, in 
fact before there was any United States of America, this 
was in 1686, and was afterward approved by the legislature 
of the State. The county was laid off into constabularies 
or towmships, namely, Pensauken, Gloucester, Waterford 
and Deptford and New Town or Newton. 

Burlington was the capital of West Jersey, until united 
with Bast Jersey, and Perth Amboy was the captial of 
East Jersey. ' This was long before Philadelphia was 
thought of, and in fact at that time, the Swedes and Dutch 
both, claimed the territory that was ceded afterwards to 
William Penn, who was engaged as trustee and part owner 
of West Jersey in establishing colonies here. The county 
court was held at Gloucester City, and after a State Govern- 
ment was formed, the Governor, who also acted as Chan- 
cellor, held court there. Gloucester City became quite a 
fashionable town, and a celebrated spring gave it a repu- 
tation as a health resort. A log court house with a jail was 
built and it was the most important town in South Jersey. 
Some years afterward, in 1767, the county buildings were 
burned down, and Woodbury was selected as the new county 
seat, and a stone jail and court house erected, which stood 
until a short time ago. 

Nearly all the townships of old Gloucester were named 
after English places by the early settlers. Deptford is after 
a town where Peter the Great learned the trade of ship 
building, and a later township, Woolwich, is after the town 
where the English Arsenal is located. Swedesboro is after 
the Swedish settlement at the Racoon Creek, Greenwich, a 
later township, is after the famous observatory town where 

22 



longitude is defined, Waterford was named after a fishing 
town on the Barrow by its Irish settlers. Thus, the early con- 
stabularies and townships were named. Woodbury is after 
two towns, Wood and Berry, in Lancashire, England. All 
of which shows the affection of the early settlers for their 
home towTis in Great Britain, In fact most of the counties 
were likewise named after English shires or counties. 

While the Swedes claimed, without the right, a part of 
New Jersey and Delaware, and along the shore of the Dela- 
ware River, a part of Pennsylvania, and as far as the falls 
at Trenton, and erected forts and established colonies and 
built churches at Wilmington, Philadelphia and Swedesboro, 
they, only after 1652, acted on their individual strength, as 
the death of Gustavus Adolphus, left them without a na- 
tional support. But for a time it appeared as if Delaware, 
Pennsylvania and New Jersey, were destined to become a 
Swedish-American Empire. The landing, under the patron- 
age of William Penn, of a colony of English Quakers, of 
about 280 in number, in 1676, changed the situation in New 
Jersey, and the establishment of the City of Burlington, -as 
the capital of West New Jersey, was the beginning of the 
development of all this section of the New World, as it was 
then called. These colonists came over in the ship Kent, 
from London, in 1676, and others in the Shield, a hundred 
years before the Revolutionary War. While the county 
passed through many eventful periods, from then to the 
Revolution, Burlington and Gloucester City were the prin- 
cipal townis and are greatly linked with the early history of 
West Jersey. 

At this time, John Fenwich, a Quaker, had acquired a 
large tract of land in West Jersey, which he called iSalem, 
meaning "Peace," and established "Salem City and County. 
This tract included everything from Burlington, or the 
first tenth to Cape May, and from the Delaware to the At- 
lantic Ocean. 

In 1686, the people of Gloucester County, after estab- 
lishing their own form of Government, established courts, 
and appointed justices of the peace, as judges, and estab- 
lished a county town. This was afterwards recognized by 
the General Assembly, and soon Cumberland County and 
Cape May County were established, and in 1837, Atlantic 

23 



was set off from Gloucester, and in 1844, Camden, till we 
]iow have as the Old West Jersey, the Counties of Burling- 
ton, Camden, Atlantic, Cumberland, Cape May and Salem. 

How passing strange it is, that from the small and 
peaceful towns or hamlets, settled by our mixed ancestors 
from Europe, to day exist upon these shores where they 
landed, vast cities and great shipbuilding industries and 
manufacturing plants that now supply the whole world with 
necessary products. And that, in this section, which was 
then New Netherlands, now comprises the great Empire 
State and City of New York, Connecticut and its great in- 
dustries. New Jersey and Delaware, and that Pennsylvania, 
then only know as a vast forest region, should be part 
of the great Middle States that largely made our great 
Nation, and with Maryland and Virginia, other British col- 
onies, afterwards became the most important part of our 
great American Republic. 

The names of New Jersey were New Netherlands, New 
S\veden, New Albion, Nova Casarea, East Jersey, West 
Jersey and finally New Jersey and part of the Cabot ex- 
ploration in 1597, during the reign of Henry VII of Eng- 
land. Between 1606 and 1623, several grants of New Jersey 
and other parts of the Middle States and Virgina, had been 
granted by the English Crown to various companies, 
namely, the London Company, the Virginia Company and 
the Plymouth Company, and disputes between these com- 
panies probably lead to other nations claiming them as un- 
occupied. Lord De la War made extensive explorations of 
the New Sweden Bay and River and after him the bay and 
river were finally named. This was before the "Swedes came, 
who had no claim of title except the strong will of Gustavus 
Adolphus, and under these grants part of New Jersey or 
West Jersey, was in New England and the rest not. 

In 1631, Charles I granted land in New Jersey to Sir 
Edmund Ploj^den, who was the first Englishman to settle in 
New Jersey. He was a rank royalist and was Earl Palatine 
and attempted to found in New Jersey an Earldom known 
as New Albion. A man named Beauchamp Plantagenet, 
was his fidu Acliaius and with seven Sir Knights attempted 
to found a Kingdom in New Jersey and settled at the mouth 
of the Pensauken Creek and traded \vith the Indians in 1636, 

24 



and named the place "Erinoweck" after an Indian Chief. 
This Palatine lasted several years and was extensively 
advertised in England, and attempts made to get a thousand 
knights and viscounts over. 

In West Jersey different counties were created, Glou- 
cester 1C82 from Salem, Atlantic from Gloucester in 1837 
and Camden from Gloucester in 1844, Cumberland from 
Salem in 1747 and Cape May from Salem in 1692. The whole 
of West Jersey appears to have been sold to the early Qua- 
ker settlers for £1000 and they dominated West Jersey from 
the Rancocas Valley to Cape May. The lives of the early set- 
tlers in New Jersey, Jamestown, Plymouth Rock and else- 
where are historical, but no state has made a greater con- 
tribution to American History than New Jersey. East Jer- 
sey was settled as early as 1609 and our State was 
claimed as part of the old Plymouth Company, and under 
the Virginia Company's charter, so it shares in their his- 
tory as Camden County does in that of Gloucester County 
from which it was set off in 1844. 

New Jersey under different names, was governed by 
Holland when that country was the States-General and 
known as the Netherlands and later by Sweden under Gus- 
ta\Tis Adolphus and then under the name of New Albion and 
then as Nova Caesarea as an English province and at last as 
New Jersey, and separated from Great Britain in 1776. Dur- 
ing all this time Gloucester City, either asBethlem, Arwames 
or ''Gloucester City" as it named itself, has held sway and 
while robbed of the honor of being the shire town still, 
proudly boasts of being the first county seat where the 
Colonial Governors dined and wined when they held court 
in those days and whose early history was familiar to Wil- 
liam Penn and his compeers, long before Philadelphia was 
thought of, and running back of all this modern history, 
to the period when only the Indians, wild beasts and a hand 
full of Dutch, Swedes, Belgians and other adventurers had 
just arrived into this wooded wilderness along the lordly 
Delaware, then only knowTi as the Zuydt River, which, like 
the great Oregon '' heard no sound save its own dashings." 

How proud the citizens of old Gloucester should be and 
as the site of Old Fort Nassau is in dispute, it is but proper 
that Gloucester City dating its birth back to that period 

25 



should be selected as the place for the erection of this monu- 
ment to commemorate this event. 

May this patriotic contribution by the State of New Jer- 
sey lead to the marking of other Colonial and Revolutionary 
sites of historical importances to Camden County and Old 
West Jersey. 

The Commission desires to explain why the Governor 
is not present. In shipping the monument from the quarry 
the car became lost on the way to Gloucester, which neces- 
sitated the postponment of the dedication for another week 
and unfortunately the Governor had two engagements for 
the same day making it impossible for him to be present, 
as well as several other distinguished personages. As the 
winter was approaching and the weather getting too cold for 
outdoor services the Commission decided to go ahead with 
the dedicator}^ services. 



26 



COMMENTS OF THE PRESS. 



A MONUMENT FOR 

OLD FORT NASSAU 



From the Camden Daily Courier. 

There is a bill pending in the Legislature, 
prepared by John H. Port, president of the 
Valley Forge Revolutionary Encampment Com- 
mission, for marking the site of Old 
Fort Nassau at Gloucester Point, where Cap- 
tain Cornelius Mey planted a Dutch Colony 
in 1623, which was the first white settle- 
ment in South Jersey, which then was clairaea 
by Holland and Sweden. Camden County 
and Atlantic County were set oft from old 
Gloucester,, and the bill creates a commis- 
6ion of one for each of these counties. 
Every county historical society in West Jer- 
sey has endorsed the bill and it has already 
passed the House arid is now In the Senate. 
The bill calls for an appropriation of $500. 
, John H. Fort, ■ chairman of the commissiori 
8,ppointed to erect a shaft at Fort Nassau, 
addressed council, and explained what Is 
going to be done, and asked that a com- 
mittee be appointed to assist in locating the 
spot. A committee, consisting of Davi^ J. 
Doran, president of the Gloucester Historical 
Society; Councilman G. William Barnard and 
A. Poweliy "was appointed. 



FORT HEADS BODY 

TO ERECT SHAFT 

Perpetuate Spot Where Pi- 
oneer Dutch Colony Lo- 
cated at Gloucester. 



From the Camden Daily Courier. 

John H. Fort, of Camden, has been selected 
president of the copimission appointed by 
Governor Edge to erect a shaft at Fort Nassau, 
upon the site occupied by the Dutch colony 
which settled at the mouth of the old Timber 
Creek in 1623, before South Jersey was even 
a British Province, but was claimed by 
Holland. The other members are: Frank 
Stewart, Woodbury, representing Gloucester 
County, and A. M. Heston, Atlantic City, 
Atlantic County. The three counties com- 
prised old Gloucester County at one time. 

The shaft, which is to be erected close to 
the office of the Pusey & Jones shipyard, will 
be granite and not a monument as Fort Nassau 
was not the scene of a battle but purely a 
historical event and the tablet will give his- 
torical data. The official data is being ob- 
tained from The Hague In Holland. 



Invitations will be sent to the Holland 
Society in New York, the oldest Colonial 
Society in America, and the Society of the 
Netherlands and all of the colonial and his- 
torical organizations of the State to partici- 
pate in the exercises when the shaft Is un- 
veiled. Societies in New York, Delaware 
and Pennsylvania which existed In the early 
daya will also be invited along with the gov- 
ernors. 

The settlement of the Dutch was on the 
banks of the creek which was known ii> 
those days as "Arwames" and now known as 
the Gloucester Point. There were only 'M 
settlers in the .colony and all were Hollanders. 
They built Fort Nassau for protection again.it 
the Indians and it consisted of a log stockade. 
Homes were erected of logs and finally the 
coloni.sts traded with the Indians. Soon after 
the visit of Captain De Vrles In 16M, the 
colonists scattered through South Jersey. 



AWARD CONTRACT 

FOR MONUMENT 



From the Camden Dally Courier. 

Tbe ^ 01(^ Fort Nassau Colonial Monument 
Oommfgsio'n awarded the contract for the 
monun|?nt to the O. i. Hammell Company, of 
Pleasantville, which firm built the Valley 
Forge monument for the New Jersey Brigade 
of the Revolutionary War and the Elks' Rest 
at Harleigh Cemetery. 

After finishing all details ' the commissJoB 
visited Gloucester City as the guests of John 
F. Harned, and carefully went over the shore 
front of Big Timber and Little Timber Creeks 
where they enter into the Delaware River at 
Gloucester City, and where the Dutch, under 
command of Captain Cornelius Jacobese Mey, 
landed and erected a log fort, which was 
called Fort Nassau, and established a colony 
in 1623, when Holland claimed the State of 
New Jersey. This was the first white set- 
tlement in West Jersey. 

Owing to the fact that the exact site of the 
Old Fort is lost, having been destroyed by the 
Indians and the creeks, and the Delaware 
River having been filled in by the shipyard 
and other industrial plants, the Commission 
accepted the offer of Gloucester City of a 
square located on Cumberland Street, on the 
main , driveway from Wo.odbury to Camden, 
and near the site, as a suitable place for the 
monument, which will be suitably inscribed 
on a bronze tablet. 

An interesting demonstration will be ar- 
ranged, for at the dedication, and the Gov- 
ernors, of ' New Jersey, Delaware, New York 
and Connecticut, all part of the old New 
Netherlands, will be invited to be present, 
and the Holland, Netherlands and Swedish 
Historical Societies and their ambassadors 
invited as well as all the Historical Societies 
of West Jersey and the city and county rep- 
resentatives. This is in commemoration of 



27 



the most historical event in West Jersey, and 
antedates the history of William Penn and 
the settlement of Pennslyvania. 

The unveiling of the monument will take 
place some time in November. The com- 
mittee appointed by Governor Edge, is John 
H. Fort, of Camden County; Prank H. Stuart, 
of Gloucester County, and A. M. Heston, of 
Atlantic County, which formerly composed old 
Gloucester County. 



GLEANING'S FROM 

GLOUCESTER CITY 

Fort Nassau Ceremony is 
Postponed. 



Gloucester City, Nov. 13. 

Prom the Camden Daily Courier. 

The ceremonies pertaining to the unveiling 
of the State shaft to commemorate the land- 
ing of the Dutch at old Fort Nassau, in 162a, 
have been postponed for at least one week.' 
The shaft has not arrived, and it is not known 
where it is. It was shipped on October 23, 
from North Carolina, but where it is now is 
a mystery, as no trace of it can be found. 
It is supposed that it is on a siding some- 
where between Gloucester and that place. All 
of the organizations here and also organiza- 
tions of other towns have made arrangements 
to take part, and the postponement is quite 
a disappointment to them, but it would not 
be appropriate to bold the parade and ex- 
ercises with no shaft to unveil. 

Councilman G. William Barnard, who is 
Chairman of the Gloucester Committee, re- 
ceived a communication from Chairman John 
H. Fort, of the State Commission, last night, 
advising him of the postponement. 



UNVEIL MONUMENT 

AT FORT NASSAU 

Fine Parade of Civic Socie- 
ties Precedes Dedication 
Ceremonies. 



Jacobson Mey. The parade started at 1.30 
o'clock at Broadway and Monmouth Street. In 
line were pupils of the public and paro- 
chial schools, Police Department, City Officials, 
Liberty Band, Knights of Columbus. Sons of 
Veterans and other organizations. At Broad- 
way and King Street the State Commission, 
consisting of John H. Port, of Camden; Frank 
H. Stewart, of Woodbury, and Alfred M. 
Hestor of Atlantic City, with its escort of 
members of the Camden Lodge of Elks and 
other organizations were met. They proceeded 
down Broadway to Burlington Street thence 
to Monmouth Street to Broadway to the City 
Square, where the exercises were held. The 
school children formed a hollow square and 
sang "America." Rev. R. A. Conover, pastor 
First M. E. Curch, opened with prayer, after 
which there was a historical address by 
Chairman John H. Fort, who presented the 
shaft to the City of Gloucester, after it was 
unveiled by Miss Alice Powell, daughter of 
City Treasurer Harris C. Powell. It was ac- 
cepted by Mayor Anderson for the City. The 
school children sang and benediction was pro- 
nounced by Rev. Maurice E. Brie, rector of 
St. Mary's Church. 

The shaft is attractive and has a bronze 
tablet, on the top of which is carved a picture 
of the old British sailing ship Walvis while 
below it is the inscription: "Erected by the 
State of New Jersey to commemorate the 
first white settlement in West Jersey 
at the mouth of Big Timber Creek 
and the erection of old Fort Nassau by the 
Holland Dutch in 1623, under Captain Cor- 
nelius Jacobson Mey, of the Dutch West India 
Co." The names of the Commissioners are on 
the bottom. 

The citizens of old Gloucester, which is the 
old shire town of Gloucester, are much pleased 
over the State erecting the shaft on the 
City Square. The old fort was located at 
the mouth of the creek, which is the ex- 
treme end of Gloucester. 



PLAN MONUMENT 

AT FORT NASSAU 

John H. Fort Calls Meeting 
of the Commission in This 
City on Thursday. 

To Place 'Shaft at 

Gloucester, 



Shaft Placed on Squaee. 



From the Camden Daily Courier. 

Gloucester City, Nov. 22— A street parade and 
exercises preceeiled the unveiling of the New 
Jersey State monument at the City Square this 
afternoon. The nmnument commemorates the 
landing of the first white settlement in West 
Jersey at the mouth of Big Timber Creek and 
the erection of old Fort Nassau by the Hol- 
land Dutch in 1623, under Captain Cornelius 



From the Camden Post Telegram. 

The Old Fort Nassau Colonial Monument 
Commission appointed by ex-Governor Edge, 
before his retirement last winter, has been 
called to meet at the home of Camden Lodge 
of Elks' by John H. Fort, the President, on 
Thursday. September 11, at 11 A. M. The 
lodge extended the courtesy to the Commission. 
Mr. Fort has gotten all the detailed matters 
arranged and notices as required to monu- 
ment builders have been sent out and it is 
expected that the Commission on that day will 
be able to award the contract for the monu- 



28 



snent. Appropriate designs have been pre- 
pared and tlie sliaft will be of granite witii 
proper bronze tablet tor the inscription. The 
monument will commemorate the landing of 
raptain Cornelius Jacobese Mey, Commander 
of a Dutch West Indies Company at Glou- 
cester Point, at the mouth of Big Timber 
Creek in 1623. He built a log stockade and 
called it Fort Nassau, after a town in a 
Rhenish Province, and left a colony under 
the Holland General States, which then 
claimed all the territory along the Atlantic 
coast from the Connecticut River and New 
York to Cape May. 

When Captain David Peterson De Vries 
visited it he found the colonists had been 
murdered and the Old Fort destroyed and 
burned by the Indians. He erected a more 
substantial fort and established another colony 
near the Old Fort Nassau. 

The colony remained permanent until the 
Swedes invaded New Jersey and claimed the 
River Valley from Cape May on both sides 
to the Falls of Trenton. Afterwards the 
English drove the Swedes from New Sweden, 
as they called the territory, and it became 
known as New Albion and afterwards Nova 
Caesarea, or New Jersey. Sweden established 
a principality in Delaware and the territory 
including what is now West Jersey and was 
then called New Sweden. 

After Great Britain obtained New Nether- 
lands an English Colony settled in old 
Gloucester and Burlington Counties and were 
Quakers under the regime of William Penn. 

The Old Fort Nassau Monument Commission 
will visit Gloucester City and select a suitable 
site for the monument. The dedicatory cere- 
monies will be elaborate and eminent speakers 
will relate the early history. The Governor 
and his staff and various societies will attend 
the exercises. It is as historical an event as 
the landing of the Mayflower at Plymouth 
Rock, in the opinion of Chairman Fort. 



log fort, which was called Fort Nassau, and 
established a colony in 1623, when Holland 
claimed the territories which is now the 
State of New Jersey. This was the first white 
settlement in West Jersey. 

Owing to the fact that the exact site of tne 
Old Fort is lost, having been destroyed by 
Indians, and the Creeks and Delaware River 
have been filled in by the shipyards and other 
industrial plants, the Commission accepted 
the offer of Gloucester City of a Square, lo- 
cated on Cumberland Street on the main drive- 
way from Woodbury to Camden and near the 
Old Fort site, as a suitable place for the 
monument, which will bear a bronze tablet 
with a proper inscription. 

An interesting demonstration will be ar- 
ranged for at the dedication. The Governors ot 
New Jersey, Delaware, New York and Con- 
ecticut — all part of the old New Netherlands — 
will be invited to be present and the Holland 
Netherlands and Swedish Historical Societies 
and the Ambassadors of these nations invited, 
as well as all the Historical Societies of 
West Jersey and the city and county repre- 
sentatives. 

This monument is in commemoration of the 
most historical event in West Jersey, antedat- 
ing the history of William Penn and th" 
settlement of Pennslyvania. 

The unveiling of the monument will take 
place sometime in November. The committee 
appointed by ex-Governor Edge, comprises 
John H. Fort, of Camden County; Frank H. 
Stuart, of Gloucester County and A. M. Heston, 
of Atlantic County, all of which formerly were 
included in Old Gloucester County. 



PLAN FOR -SHAFT 

AT GLOUCESTER 



MONUMENT TO MARK 
OLD FORT NASSAU 



Nov. 15 Fixed as Date for 
Unveiling and Dedication 
of Fort Nassau Monument 



State Committee Awards 
Contract and Accepts 
Gloucester City Site. 



From the Camden Post Telegram. 

The Old Fort Nassau Colonial Monument 
Commission held a meeting yesterday at the 
Elks' Home, in this City and after organization 
awarded the contract for the monument to the 
O. J. Hamniell Company, of Pleasantville. N. 
J., which company built the Valley Forge 
Monument for the New Jersey Brigade of the 
revolutionary War and the Elks' Rest at 
Harleigh Cemetery. 

After finishing all business details, the com- 
mission visited Gloucester City as the guests 
of Mr. John F.Harned, and carefully went over 
the shore front of Big Timber and Little 
Timber Creeks, where they enter into the 
Delaware River, at Gloucester City, where the 
D'nch. under the command of Captain Cor- 
nelius Jacobese Mey, landed and erected a 



From the Camden Post Telegram. 

Preparations are going steadily forward tor 
the parade and other exercises to be held i- 
Glouceistor in connection with the unveiling of 
the Fort Nassau shaft. The local committee, 
consisting of Councilman G. William Barnard. 
Receiver ot Taxes Harris C. Powell and Davi-! 
J. Doran. President of the Gloucester City 
Historical Society, after consultation with thf 
State Commission, announce the date as Satur- 
day, November 15. A feature of the parade 
will be a reminder of the famous halt breed 
Indian scout. Jonas Cattell, who lies in the 
family plot at Lavender Hill Almonesson. 
whose deeds of daring would fill volumes, and 
several acts of bravery and endurance are 
to be found in literature of the Colonial days, 
among which was his part as master ot the 
hounds tor the Gloucester Fox Hunting Clu' 
that held forth in Revolutionary days at 
Hngg's Inn. 

The one to represent the trapper ot the days 
when Gloucester was a fisherman's villaEre i- 
a grandson named Jonas Cattell. of 2.°7 Hudso;! 
Strept. and he will dress just as Gr-nnldaddv 
Jones did, as seen in the picture of him an^'' 



29 



two tmsty hounds, "Music and Drlrer," as 
taken in 1830 by an artist, E. W. Clay. 

The presentation speech will be made by 
the President of the Commission, John H. 
Kort, Esq., and the acceptance speech will 
be made by Acting Governor William N. 
Runyon. Another speaker will be Chancellor 
Stephens, President of the New Netherlands 
Society. The same day the members of the 
Gloucester City Historical Society will tender 
a reception to the members of the Camden 
County and Gloucester County Historical 
Societies. 



SHAFT AERR^S AT 

SISTER CITY 

Fort Nassau Monument will 
be Unveiled iat Gloucester 
on Saturday. 



Marks Arrival op, Dutch. 



ITNVEIL STATUE 

NOVEMBER 15 



From the Camden Post Telegram. 

At a meeting of the committees appointed 
by Gloucester City Council and Chairman 
John H. Fort, of the Old Fort Nassau Monu- 
ment Commission, held in Gloucester on 
Thursday night, it was announced that tbe 
unveiling ceremonies will take place on Satur- 
day afternoon, November 15. The shaft, to 
be placed on the City Square on Cumberland 
Street, to commemorate the landing of the 
Dutch in 1623, will arrive in a few days 
along with the tablet and will be put In 
place. A parade is being planned to start 
from Camden and proceed to Gloucester, being 
met in the upper end of the city by the 
Gloucester organizations. Chairman Fort is 
planning to make It a big affair. 



MONUMENT MISLAID 
ON ITS TRIP NORTH 



From the Camden Post Telegram. 

Mislaid somewhere between here and North 
i.'arolina where it was made, the monument 
to be erected at Gloucester on the site of 
Fort Nassau, will not be dedicated this Satur- 
day, as had been arranged. The monument 
was shipped on October 30, and has gone 
astray in transit and the railroads have been 
unable to find It. 

In consequence Lawyer John H. Fort, Chair- 
man of the Commission, stated this afternoon 
fhat the dedication will not take place until 
Vovember 22. The arrangements for this 
^^atu^day also called for the unveiling of the 
irinklng fountain erected in memory of Hugh 
F. Ramsey. Mr. Fort suggests that the latter 
■eremony also be postponed in order that the 
original program be carried out. 



From the Camden Post Telegram. 

The State monument to be erected In Glou- 
cester City to commemorate the landing of 
the Dutch and the erection of Fort Nassau 
has arrived and will be unveiled next Satur- 
day afternoon. This announcement was made 
this morning by John H. Fort, Chairman of 
the State Commission, for the erection of the 
monument, which was to have been unveiled 
last Saturday, but was lost In transit from 
the quarry in North Carolina. 

The monument will be erected at Broad- 
way and Cumberland Street. There will be 
a short parade from the northern part of the 
City, where a delegation from Camden Lodge 
of Elks with Its marching club, will join it 
as an escort for the Commission appointed 
by the Governor to erect and dedicate the 
monument. 

The exercises at the dedication will con- 
sist of patriotic airs by the school children of 
the parochial and public schools of Glou- 
cester and airs by the Liberty Band. There 
will be an invocation by Rev. Richard Con- 
over, pastor of the First M. E. Church, John 
H. Fort, Esq., will then formally, as presi- 
dent of the Old Fort Nassau Colonial Monu- 
ment Commission, on behalf of the State of 
New Jersey, present the Wionument to Mayor 
Anderson, who will receive it under a resolu- 
tion of City Council and agree to protect It as 
fully as other real and personal property in 
the City is protected. 

The ceremonies will take place In the 
Square belonging to the City at Cumberland 
Street and Broadway. This Square was ac- 
cepted from the City as the most available 
spot, as the exact site of old Fort Nassau is 
not known, but from the fact that the river 
and Big Timber Creek formerly came nearly 
up to the Square it was the most available 
site in Gloucester. 

The history of the whole affair will be 
fully told by Chairman Fort as It commemo- 
rates an epochal period in the history of New- 
Jersey, then part of "New Netherlands" or 
"New Sweden" long before Great Britain as- 
sumed control of it. It was then a part of 
Connecticut, New York, Delaware and now 
Pennsylvania, dating back 296 years. 

Gloucester City Council has appointed a com- 
mittee consisting of G. William Bernard, David 
Doran and Harris C. Powell, who will have 
charge of the parade and local festivities. In 
case of storm. Rev. Maurice E. Brie has 
offered St. Mary's Parochial school building 
with a capacity of 800. to hold the closing 
ceremonies in. Ex-Sheriff Henry J. West will 
be marshal of the parade. 

Invitations have been sent out to many 
prominent men, including the Governors of 
those States, formerly In the New Netherlands 



30 



and old societies, City, County and State 
officials of New Jersey and old West Jersey. 
Miss Powell, daugtiter of City Treasurer 
Powell, and a descendant of a colonial family, 
will unveil the monument. 



READY TO UNVEIL 
NASSAU MONUMENT 

Exercises will be Held at 
Gloucester this Saturday 
Afternoon. 

Chairman Fort to 

Present the "Shaft 



closing ceremonies in. Henry J. West will b« 
the marshal. 

The citizens of old Gloucester City, the old 
shire town of Gloucester County, are highly 
deiighted that the Legisiature had honored 
their City as the successor of the Old Fort 
Nassau settlement in erecting a monument to 
commemorate the first white settlement at the 
mouth of Big Timber Creefc a part of tne 
boundary of old Gloucester City with itil 
history' extending further back into colonial 
days than Philadelphia or any other town 
south 6t ''New Amsterdam," now New York. 
Invitations have been sent out to many 
prominent men, including the Governors of 
these States, formerly in the New Netherlands 
and old societies. City, County and State officiais 
of iJew Jersey and old West Jersey. Miss 
Powell, daughter of City Treasurer Powell 
and a descendant of a colonial family, will 
unveil the monument. 



From the Camden Post Telegram. 

Saturday afternoon at 2 o'clock the monu- 
ment to commemorate the erection of Oid 
Fort Nassau and the settling of the Holland 
Dutch at the mouth of Big Timber Creek in 
1623, will take place at Gloucester. There 
will be a short parade from the north part of 
the city, where a delegation from the Camden 
Lodge of Elks and the marching club will 
join in as an escort for the Commission ap- 
pointed by the Governor to erect and dedicate 
the monument in commemoration of the old 
historical Fort Nassau and the settlement. 

The exercises at the dedication will consist 
of patriotic airs by the children of the paro- 
chial and public schools and music by a band. 
There will be an invocation by Rev. Richard 
Conover, pastor of the First M. E. Church. 
John H. Fort, Esq., will then formally, as 
president of the Old Fort Nassau Colonial 
Monument Commission on behalf of the State 
of New Jersey, present the monument to 
Mayor Anderson, of Gloucester City, who will 
receive it under a resolution of City Council 
and agree to protect It as fully as other real 
and personal property in the city is protected 
by the city authorities. The ceremonies will 
be held in the Square belonging to the City 
on Cumberland Street and Broadway. This 
Square was accepted from the City as the 
most available spot as the exact site of Old 
Fort Nassau is not known, but from the fact 
that the river and Big Timber Creek formerly 
came nearly up to tl)e Square it was the most 
available site in Gloucester. 

The history of the whole affair will be fully 
toJd by Mr. Fort and it commemorates an 
epochal period in the history of New Jersey, 
then part of "New Netherlands" or "New 
Sweden" long before G-reat Britain assumed 
control of it and being a part of Connecticut, 
New York, Delaware and now Pennsylvania 
dating back 296 years. 

The City Council of Gloucester, has ap- 
pointed a committee consisting of G. William 
Barnard, David Doran and Harris C. Powell, 
who will have charge of the parade and local 
festivities. If the day is pleasant, Gloucester 
City will be crowded with visitors. In case of 
storm Rer. Maurice E. Bric, who will deliver 
the benediction has offered the parochial school 
. .building with a capacity of 800 to hold the 

CI 



PARADE WILL MARK 
SHAFT DEDICATION 

Plans for Unveiling of Fort 
Nassau Monument at Glou- 
cester are Complete. 

Elks' Marching Club is to 
Participate. 



From the Camden Post Telegram. 

Plans for the unveiling of the Fort Nassau 
monument at the City Square in Gloucester 
to-morrow afternoon were completed this morn- 
ing at a meeting of the local committee. The 
street parade to be held prior to the dedica- 
tion of the shaft will form at 1 o'clock at 
Broadway and Monmouth Street. 

The children from the public schools will 
assemble on Monmouth Street and the little 
folks from the parochial school will gather on 
Atlantic Street. The police, Liberty Band 
Red Men, Knights of Columbus, Sons of 
Veterans and other organizations which have 
expressed a desire to parade will form on 
Broadway. 

The line will move up Broadway to King 
Street, where the paraders will meet the 
Marching Club of Camden Lodge of Elks. 
The parade will counter-march on Broadway 
to Burlington Street, thence to Monmouth 
Street, to Broadway and the City Square. 

Henry J. West will be marshal of the parade 
and John Corcoran and Adon Powell will be 
his aides. Lawyer John H. Fort will be master 
of ceremonies and the shaft will be unveiled by 
the daughter of City Treasurer Powell. 



DEDICATE SHAFT 

AT GLOUCE'STER 



From the Camden Post Telegram. 

The monument to mark the landing of thf 
first white settlement in West Jersey at th" 
mouth of Big Timber Creek and the erection 



of Old Port Nassau by the Holland Dutch, in 
1623, under Captain Cornelius Jaoobson Mey, 
was unveiled with imposing exercises at the 
City Square on Cumberland Street, Gloucester 
City, this afternoon at 2 o'clock. There was 
a parade in connection with the exercises. 
The parade was formed at the corner of 
Broadway and Monmouth Street at 1 o'clocli 
and moved at 1.30 with former State Comp- 
troller Henry J. West as marshal and John 
A. Corcoran and Adon W. Powell as aides. 
The procession was headed by the Gloucester 
police force followed by the Liberty Band and 
Llien the school children. Red Men in uniform, 
Knights of Columbus, Sons of Veterans, Glou- 
cester Fire Department and other organiza- 
tions. Tlie parade proceeded up Broadway to 
King Street where the State Commission, 
consisting of John H. Fort, Frank H. Stewart 
and Alfred M. Heston was met along with the 
escort consisting of members of the Camden 
Lodge of Elks' and other organizations. They 
marched down Burlington Street to Monmouth 
(o Broadway to the City Square where the 
exercises were held. 

The school children formed a hollow square 
and sang America. Rev. R. A. Conover, 
pastor of First M. E. Church, ofTered prayer 
and the address of the occasion was made by 
Chairman Fort. He gave a history of the 
landing of the Dutch and in behalf of the 
State presented the shaft to the City of Glou- 
cester after it was unveiled by Miss Alice 
Powell, daughter of City Treasurer Harris C. 
Powell. Benediction was pronounced by Rev. 
Maurice E. Brie, rector of St. Mary's Catholic 
(Thurch, after which the school children sang 
again. 

Mayor Anderson accepted the shaft for the 
city. Most of the city officials were present 
to participate. The shaft is an attractive one 
;ind has on it a bronze tablet, on the top of 
which is carved the Dutch sailing ship the 
Walvis and the following inscription, "Erected 
by the State of New Jersey to commemorate 
the first white settlement In West Jersey at 
the mouth of Big Timber Creek and the erec- 
tion of Old Fo't Nassau by the Holland Dutch 
in 1623, under Captain Cornelius Jacobson 
Mey of the Dutch West India Company." 
The names of the commissioners are also on 
ihe bottom. 

The marking of the landing of the Dutch, 
commemorates an epochal period in tlie his- 
tory of New Jer.sey. then part of "New Nether- 
lands," or "New Sweden," long before Great 
Britain assumed control of it and being a part 
of Connecticut, New York, Delaware and now 
Pennsylv.inia. dating back 296 years. The 
citizens of old Gloucester City, the old shire 
town of Gloucester County are highly delighted 
(hat the State Legislature has honored the 
city as the successor of the Old Fort Nassau 
-e'tlement in erecting the monument on the 
City Square. 



PICK HI'STORICAL 

SHAFT SITE 

To Mark Spot in Gloucester 

AVhere Dutch Landed 

in 1623. 



Legislature to mark the spot where the Dutch 
first landed at Fort Nassau, Gloucester, in 
1623, likely will be placed on the City Square, 
Atlantic and Cumberland Streets. 

There is no suitable place a'ong the creeK, 
and the committee appointed by Gloucester 
Council to act with the State Commissioner 
will recommend the Square. 



UNVEIL NASSAU 'SHAFT 

Marks First White Settle- 
ment in West Jersey. 



From the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. 

The granite monument lost for three weeks 
and elected on the City Square, Gloucester 
City to commemorate the first white set- 
tlement in West Jersey and the erection of old 
Fort Nassau by the Dutch in 1623, was un- 
veiled yesterday with imposing exercises. There 
WES also a parade and many hundred visitors 
participated, among them members of his- 
torical and Holland societies. The State Com- 
mission, consisting of John H. Fort, Camden; 
Frank H. Stewart, of Woodbury, and Alfred M. 
Heston, of Atlantic City, was escorted by 
members of the Camden Lodge of Elks. In 
the parade were pupils of the public and 
parochial schools, police and fire departments, 
city officials. Red Men in uniform. Knights 
of Colum.bus, Sons of Veterans and the Liberty 
B?nd. The marshal was former State Comp- 
troller Henry J. West, with John A. Corcoran 
and Adon W. Powell as aides. 

At the shaft the children formed a hollow 
square and, with the band playing, sang 
"America." Tlie invocation was given by Rev. 
n. A. Conover, pastor of First M. E. Church, 
and Chairman Fort made a long historical 
address. 

The shaft was unveiled by Miss Martha 
Powell daughter of City Treasurer Harris 
C. Powell, and was presented to the city by 
Chairman Fort in behalf of the State, and 
accepted by Mayor Anderson. 



From the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. 
The shaft ordered erected by the New Jersej 



MEN AND THINGS 



From the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. 

New Jersey's chartered origin is older than 
Pennslyvania's, and Burlington, where the Car- 
teret-Berkeley "concession" was commemo- 
rated on Saturday, is older than Philadelphia. 
The founder of Pennsylvania w^as interested 
in New Jersey before he came over to the 
province on which his name was bestowed, 
and the Society of Friends took root on the 
other side of the Delaware before they did on 
this side. The part which William Penn 
played in Nova Caesarea, as New Jersey was 
originally called when granted to English 
proprietaries, enabled him to gain some ex- 
perience as a landholder and colonizer before 
he began the "Holy Experiment" which 
culminated in our own Commonwealth. In 



32 



the early days, there was an East Jersey and 
there was also a West Jersey, and it was 
among Quakers in West Jersey who quarreled 
over tlieir rights in it that Penn was called 
upon in England to act as arbitrator at a 
time when he was not muth more than thirty 
years of age. His hand is to be found as a 
trustee for West Jersey in the liberal ideas 
of government which were embodied there, and 
he was subsequently a holder of a proprietary 
interest in East Jersey. But it was not until 
he came up the Delaware in the Welcome that 
he first saw the soil of New Jersey. Probably 
the earliest knowledge he had of it was 
derived ten years before, from the fore- 
most of the English Quakers, George Fox, 
who had passed through it on horseback when 
he visited the tew Quakers who were to be 
found in its wilderness. 



MARK FORT SITE 

Location of Dutcli Revolu- 
tionary Post Gets 
Monument. 



Special to The Inquirer. 

Westville, N. J., April 12.— The site of 
Fort Nassau along Big Timber Creek, between 
here and Gloucester, where the Dutch settled 
during the Revolutionary War, is to be ap- 
propriately marked as Governor Edge signed 
the bill for the appointment of a commission 
and appropriated $500 for the expense of a 
monument. 

The commission will be appointed by Gov- 
ernor Edge and the Gloucester County and the 
Gloucester City Historical Societies will assist 
the commission and a big time will be planned 
when the monument is unveiled. Fort Nassau 
is recognized as quite a historical spot, al- 
though for years no one but the historians 
knew where Fort Nassau was located. 



'SOUTH JERSEY TO RE- 
CALL SETTLEMENT 

Shaft to be Erected at Fort 

Nassau by S^Decial 

Commission. 



tied at the mouth of old Timber Creek in 
1623, before South Jersey was even a British 
Province, but was claimed by Holland. The 
other two members are Frank Stewart, of 
Woodbury, representing Gloucester County, and 
A. M. Heston, of Atlantic City, representing 
Atlantic County. 

Camden, Gloucester and Atlantic Counties 
comprised old Gloucester County and the 
Court House was located on King Street in 
this city at that time. According to the data 
prepared by President Fort, who is one of the 
leading hibtorian residents of the county, the 
settlement of the Dutch was upon the banks 
of Timber Creek, then called by the Indians, 
Arwamcs, now known as Gloucester Point. 
The shaft is to be erected close to the ofBce 
of the New Jersey Shipbuilding Company in 
the lower end of Gloucester. There were only 
thirty-four in the colony that settled there 
and all were Hollanders. They built old Fort 
Nassau for protection against the Indians, but 
it was only a log stockade. Homes were built 
of logs and the early colonists traded with the 
Indians. 

Captain Mey's ship remained at anchor off 
shore in the cove for protection of the set- 
tlers until proper safe-guards had been erected, 
and then he sailed for Holland leaving his 
colony there. In 1631 Captain De Vries visited 
the colony and in time the colonists scattered 
throughout South Jersey and decendants still 
reside in parts. 

The marking of the old fort clironicals an era 
in one of the oldest historical events in South 
Jersey and will be commemorated with consid- 
erable care by the Commission, Mr. Fort says. 
An invitation will be extended to the Hol- 
land Society of New York, the oldest colonial 
society in America, and the Society of the 
Netherlands and all of the colonial and his- 
torical societies of New Jersey to participate. 
Invitations will also be extended to societies 
in Delaware, Pennsylvania and New York, ex- 
isting in those days and the Governors of the 
States. The marker will not be a monument, 
but rather a granite shaft, as Fort Nassau 
was not the scene of any battle, but purely a 
historical event, and the tablet will give his- 
torical data. Mr. Fort is endeavoring to get 
the official data from the colonial department 
at The Hague in Holland and a sketch of the 
ship and also Captain Mey. 



TO MARK FORT NASSAU 

Program for Unveiling Shaft 
to Dutch Landing- Place. 



Will be in Commemoration 
of Original Dutch Colony 
on the Timber Creek. 



Special to The Inquirer. 

Gloucester, N. J., May 23.— John H. Fort, 
of Camden, has been selected for president of 
the commission appointed by Governor Edge 
to erect a shaft at Fort Nassau, upon the site 
occupied by the old Dutch colony whicii set- 



From the Philadelphia Inquirer. 

The program has been finished for the un- 
veiling of the State shaft to commemorate 
the landing of the Dutch In 1623 at Fort 
Nassau, Gloucester City, Saturday next, with 
John H. Fort, Chairman of the Commission, 
in charge. The organizations will assemble 
in Camden and march to Gloucester, where 
they will be met at the Newton Creek bridge 
by the Gloucester organizations and school 
children. They will then march to the City 
Square, Broadway and Cumberland Street, 
where the exercises will be held. 

The honorary marshal will be former State 



33 



Comptroller Henry J. West. Rev. R. A. Con- 
over, pastor First M. E. Church, Gloucester, 
will give the invocation and Miss Alice Powell, 
<lLiughler of City Treasurer, Harris C. Powell, 
will unveil the shaft. Governor Runyon will 
present the shaft to Mayor Anderson. There 
will be music and singing followed by the 
unveiling of the Hugh V. Ramsey Memorial 
Drinking Fountain, erected by the shipyard 
I'inployees. 



The shaft, which commemoratea the land- 
ing of the Dutch at Fort Nassau in 1623, has 
been lost in transportation somewhere between 
Gloucester and North Carolina, where It was 
made. The base for the monument is in place 
but it was decided that it would be in- 
appropriate to hold exercises without the shaft. 



l^LAN MONUMENT 

FOR FORT NASSAU 

Granite Shaft With Bronze 
Tablet to Mark Landing of 
Dutch in 1623. 

Attorney J. H. Fort, Cam- 
den, Chairman of Commit- 
tee, to Call Meeting of 
Members. 



From the Philadelphia Inquirer. 

Plans for the erection of a monument at 
Fort Nassau, at Gloucester, will be laid on 
Thursday at a meeting of the commission 
named for that purpose by former Governor 
Edge. Lawyer John H. Fort, of Camden, 
Chairman of the Commission issued the call 
for the meeting yesterday. The monument will 
be of granite and will have a bronze tablet 
on which will be an appropriate Inscription. 

The monument will commemorate the land- 
ing of Captain Cornelius Jacobese Mey, Com- 
mander of a Dutcii West Indies Company, at 
the mouth of Big Timber Creelt, in 1622. He 
built a log stockade and called it Fort Nas- 
sau, after a town in a Rhenish Province, and 
left a colony under the Holland General States, 
which then claimed all the territory along the 
Atlantic Coast. When Captain David Peter- 
.son De Vries visited the colony he found all 
the colonists had been murdered and the Old 
Fort destroyed by the Indians. He established 
.n more substantial fort and a new colony, 
which later passed under British control. 



UNVEIL SHAFT TODAY 

Will Commemorate Landing 
of Dutch in 1623. 



Special to The Inquirer. 

Gloucester. N. J.. Nov. 21— The shaft which 
was lost for three weeks and Is to commemo- 
rate the landing of the Dutch in 1623, at 
Fort Nassau, was erected today and Is all 
ready to be unveiled tomorrow afternoon at 
2 o'clock. It Is a very attractive shaft with 
a neat bronze tablet with the emblem of a 
sailing ship thereon. 

The City Committee met last night and with 
Chairman John H. Fort, completed the ar- 
rangements for the parade and unveiling 
e.\ercises. There will be a parade from the 
northern end of the city to City Square. A 
delegation of members of the Camden Lodge of 
Elks will act as an escort to Chairman John 
H. Fort and the State Commission. Nearly 
all of the organizations In Gloucester will par- 
ticipate in the unveiling ceremonies. They 
will assemble at Broad and Monmouth Streets 
and march to Broadway and King Street, 
where the State Commission will be met. 

There will be a large gathering of members 
of historical societies because it Is a historical 
event. There will also be a delegation of 
members from Holland Societies. 



LOST- 



ONE MEMORIAL 
SHAFT 



UNVEIL HISTORICAL 
MARKER IN GLOU- 
CESTER 

Commemorates Founding of 
First White Settlement 
by Dutch in 1623. 



Gloucester Postpones Exer- 
cises Until Historical 
Monument is Found. 



From the Philadelphia Inquirer. 

A missing shaft has caused the postponement 
of a parade and exercises scheduled for Satur- 
day in the City Square at Gloucester. 



Special to The Inquirer. 

Gloucester, N. J., Nov. 22. — In the presence 
of many hundred people the shaft erected by 
the State of New Jersey to commemorate the 
first white settlement in West Jer.sey at th« 
mouth of Big Timber Creek and the erection 
of Old Fort Nassau by the Holland Dutch in 
1623. was unveiled at the City Square on 
Cumberland Street here this afternoon. It 
was quite a historical event. In the gathering 
were many members of historical societies in 
South Jersey and also of Holland Societies. 
Before the e.\ercises there was a parade, which 



34 



formed at the corner of Broadway and Mon- 
mouth Street and in which the pupils of the 
public and parochial schools, the Gloucester 
Police Force, Fire Department, City Officials, 
Liberty Band, Red Men in uniform. Knights 
of Columbus, Sons of Veterans and other or- 
ganizations participated. The marshal was 
Henry J. West, former State Comptroller, 
while his aides were John A. Corcoran and 
Adon W. Powell. They marched to the corner 
of Broadway and King Street, where they met 
the State Commission, consisting of John H. 
Fort, of Camden; Frank H. Stewart of Wood- 
bury, and Alfred M. Heston, of Atlantic City, 
with their escort, which consisted of members 
of the Camden Lodge of Elks and a number 
of historical people. The parade then pro- 
ceeded to Burlington Street and thence to 
Monmouth, to Broadway to the City Square. 

The shaft was unveiled by Miss Martha 
Powell, daughter of City Treasurer Harris C. 
Powell, and then it was presented to the City 
by Chairman Fort. It was accepted by 
Mayor Anderson in behalf of the City. The 
school children sang "The Star-Spangled 
Banner," and benediction was pronounced by 
Rev. Maurice E. Brie, rector of St. Mary's 
Catholic Church. 



GLOUCESTER CITY 

TO UNVEIL SHAFT 

Landing of Dutch at Fort 
Nassau will be Celebrated 
on November 15. 

Special Telegram to Public Ledger 
Gloucester City, N. J., Oct. 18— Preparations 
are being made for the unveiling of the 
shaft to commemorate the landing of the 
Dutch at Old Fort Nassau on Saturday, No- 
vember 15. The shaft is being erected on 
the City Square on Cumberland Street. 

State officials are expected to be present 
along with the historical societies of Camden 
and Gloucester Counties. The chairman of the 
State Commission is John H. Fort, of Camden. 
Harris C. Powell, City Treasurer, will direct 
the singing. 



GLOUCESTER GETS 
SHAFT 



SHAFT TO BE ERECTED 

Camden Man Made Presi- 
dent of Commission to 
Place Tablet. 



From the Public Ledger. 

John H. Fort, of Camden, has been elected 
president of the commission appointed by 
Governor Edge, of New Jersey, to erect a shaft 
at Fort Nassau, Gloucester. The other two 
members of the commission are Frank Stewart, 
Woodbury, and A. M. Heston, Atlantic City. 

The shaft will be of granite and will give 
historical data. This data is being obtained 
from The Hague in Holland. Invitations will 
be sent to the Holland Society in New York, 
the oldest colonial society in America, and 
all of the colonial and historical societies of 
New Jersey to participate in the exercises 
when the shaft is unveiled. Societies in 
Delaware, Pennsylvania and New York will 
also be invited. 

The Dutch settled on the banks of the creek 
which was known In those days as Arwames 
and now known as Gloucester Point. There 
were but thirty-four settlers in the colony and 
all were Hollanders. They built Fort Nassau 
for protection against the Indians, but it 
consisted of a log stockade. Homes were 
built of logs and finally the colonists traded 
with the Indians. Soon after the visit of 
Captain De Vrles, in 1623, the colonists scat- 
tered through South Jersey. 



Monument to Dutch, Lost in 
Transit, Turns up Un- 
expectedly. 



From the Philadelphia Public Ledger. 

After considerable suspense on the part of 
citizens of Gloucester the State shaft to be 
erected on Cumberland Street City Square, 
commemorating the landing of the Dutch, 
arrived unexpectedly yesterday. The shaft, 
which had been missing three weeks, had 
evidently gone astray while en route. 

Upon its arrival it was immediately taken 
to the Square, and a force of men began plac- 
ing it on the foundation. John H. Fort, 
Chairman of the State Commission, announced 
last night that the unveiling exercises will 
be conducted tomorrow at 1.30 o'clock. 



CAMDEN MAN HEADS 
NASSAU SHAFT BODY 

John H. Fort is President of 

Commission to Honor 

Early Settlers. 



From the Philadelphia Evening Ledger. 

John H. Fort, of Camden, one of the lead- 
ing historians of South Jersey, has been ap- 
pointed president of the commission selected 
by Governor Edge, of New Jersey, before he 
resigned to become United States Senator, to 
erect a shaft at Fort Nassau, upon the site 



33 



occupied by the old Dutch colony which set- 
tled at the mouth of old Big Timber Creek, 
Gloucester City, in 1623, before South Jersey 
was a British Province, but claimed by Hol- 
land. 

The other two members of the commission 
are Frank Stewart, of Woodbury, represent- 
ing Gloucetter County, and A. M. Heston, 
Atlantic City, representing Atlantic County. 
Camden, Gloucester and Atlantic Counties at 
one time were all in Gloucester County. Then 
the court house was located near King and 
Market Streets, Gloucester. 

A granite shaft is to be erected close to the 
office of the Pusey & Jones shipyards, Glou- 
cester. It will not be a monument, as Fort 
Nassau was not the scene of any battle, but 
purely a historical spot, and the tablet to be 
placed on the shaft will give historical data. 

President Fort is busy preparing the data 
from official record.^ from The Hague. He says 
that the settlement of the Dutch was upon the 
banks of Timber Creek, then called "Ar- 
waraes" by the Indians, and is now known 
as the Gloucester Point. There were only 
Miirty-four settlers in the colony and all 
were Hollanders. They built old Fort Nassau 
f<ir protection agrnnst the Indians. It was 
only a log stockade. Homes were built of 
logs, and the enrly colonists traded with the 
Indians. Captain Mey's ship remained at 
anchor off shore in the cove for protection 
of the settlers until proper safe-guards had 
been erected and then he sailed for Holland, 
leaving his colony here. In 1631 Captain 
De Vries visited the colony and in time the 
colonists scattered throughout South Jersey. 
An invitation will be extended to the Hol- 
land Society of New York, the oldest col- 
onial society in America, to participate in 
ihe ceremonies when the shaft was unveiled. 
The Society of the Netherlands and all of the 
colonial and historical societies of New Jer- 
sey and the early sorietics of Pennsylvania, 
New York and Delaware will be invited along 
with the governors of the States. 



was participated in by the pupils of the public 
and parochial schools, Gloucester Police B'orce, 
Gloucester Fire Company, City Oflicials, Red 
Men, Knights of Columbus, Sons of Veterans, 
Odd Fellows, Foresters and members of His- 
torical and Holland Societies. The marshal 
was Henry J. West formerly State Comp- 
troller, who had as his aides John A. Cor- 
coran and Adon W. Powell, members of 
Gloucester historic families. They marched 
to King Street and Broadway, where they met 
the State Commission, consisting of John H. 
Fort, of Camden; Frank H. Stewart, of Wood- 
bury, and Alfred M. Heston, of Atlantic City, 
who had as an escort a delegation of members 
of t'le Camden Lodge of Elks. 

The school children formed a hollow square 
and sang "America." The Rev. R. A. Conover. 
ppstor of the First Methodist Episcopal 
Church, offered prayer, and Chairman Fort, 
in behalf of the State, made a historical ad- 
dress. 

The monument was unveiled by Miss Martha 
Powell, daughter of Harris C. Powell, City 
Treasurer, and it was presented to the City 
by Chairman Fort. It was accepted by Mayor 
Anderson on behalf of the people of Glou- 
ccfter. The children then sang the "Star- 
Spangled Banner," and benediction was pro- 
nounced by the Rev. Maurice E. Brie of St. 
Mary's Catholic Church. 

The shaft of granite bears a bronze tablet 
which has a picture of the old Dutch sailing 
ship Walvis, which carried the first settlers. 
Belov; is the inscription, "Erected by the 
State of New Jersey to commemorate the first 
wliite settlement in West Jersey, at the mouth 
of Big Timber Creek, and the erection of old 
Fort Nassau by the Holland Dutch, 1623, under 
Captain Cornelius Jacobeson Mey, of the Dutch 
West India Company. 



TO MARK DUTCH 

SETTLEMENT 



DUTCH SETTLER ME- 
MORIAL UNVEILED 
IN CxLOUCESTER 



State to Erect Monument to 

Colonists to Antedated 

English. 



City Oro'anizations Parade 
and Shaft Commemorat- 
ing Arrival of Hollanders 
on Big Timher Creek in 
1623 is Accepted From 
State by Mayor. 



From the Philadelphia Public Ledger. 

Gloucester City organizations yesterday after- 
noon ppraded previous to the unveiling of the 
monument in the City Square on Cumberland 
Street to commemorate the landing of the 
Dutch at the mouth of Big Timber Creek and 
the erection of Port Nassau in 1623. The 
parade started from the high school and 



From the Philadelphia Record. 

John H. Fort, of Camden, has been selected 
president of the commission appointed by 
Governor Edge to erect a granite shaft at 
Fort Nassau, Gloucester City, upon the site 
occupied by the Dutch Colony which settled 
at the mouth of the old Timber Creek in 1623. 
before South Jersey was an English Province. 
The other two members of the commission are 
Frank Stewart, of Woodbury, representing 
Gloucester County and A. M. Heston, At- 
lantic City, Atlantic County. 'The three 
counties at one time comprised Gloucester 
County, which had its Court House in Glou- 
cester. 

President Fort is endeavoring to get the 
official data for the tablet from The Hague, 
in Holland. There were only 34 settlers in 
the colony, but they built Fort Nassau and 
homes from logs and traded with the Indians. 
Soon after the visit of Captain De Vries in 
1C23, the colonists scattered about South 
Jersey. 



EXPERTS TO 

LOCATE SHAFT 

Will Select Site for Monu- 
ment to Mark Dutch Land- 
ing in 1621. 



From the Philadelphia Record. 

John H. Fort, chairman of the commission 
appointed to erect. a shaft on the site at Fort 
Nassau where the Dutch first landed in 1623, 
appeared before Gloucester City Council on 
Thursday night and asked that body to ap- 
point a committee of three to prepare data 
and help select the site for the shaft. 

David J. Doran, president of the Gloucester 
Historical Society: Councilman G. William 
Barnard and Adon W. Powell were appointed 
and as soon as the spot is designated Chair- 
man Fort will call the commission together. 



by Gloucester City Council to act in conjunc- 
tion with the commission appointed by Gov- 
ernor Edge to erect a shaft near Fort Nassau, 
to commemorate the landing of the Dutch in 
162.3, held a meeting yesterday. 

The committee visited the Old Fort, but 
was unable to locate the spot where the 
Dutch first landed, so it was decided that, in- 
asmuch as there is no desirable spot near the 
Old Fort, and that as the City Square on 
Cumberland Street is not far away, it be 
recommended to the State Commission that 
the shaft be placed there. 



WILL UNVEIL 

SHAFT TODAY 

Gloucester's Monument to 
Dutch Settlers in Position 
at Last, 



From the Philadelphia Record. 

The shaft to commemorate the landing of the 
Dutch at old Fort Nassau, in 1623, was put in 
place yesterday and is now ready for the un- 
veiling ceremonies this afternoon at 2 o'clock, 
at the City Square, Gloucester City, Gloucester 
organizations, with the school children, will 
assemble at Monmouth Street and Broadway 
and march to Broadway and King Street, 
where the State Commission, escorted by mem- 
bers of the Camden Lodge of Elks, will be 
met. Former State Comptroller Henry J. West 
will be marshal, assisted by John A. Cor- 
coran and Adon W. Powell. 

At the Square there will be patriotic selec- 
tions by the school children, prayer by Rev. 
R. A. Conover and an address by Chairman 
Fort, v/ho will present the shaft to the City 
after it is unveiled by Miss Alice Powell. 
Benediction will be pronounced by Rev. 
Maurice E. Brie. 



WERE UNABLE TO 
DECIDE WHERE THE 
DUTCH LANDED 



From the Philadelphia North American. 

David J. Doran, President of the Historical 
Society; Councilman G. William Barnard and 
Harris C. Powell, the committee appointed 



OLD FORT NASSAU 

MONUMENT 

Camden Lodge of Elks In- 
vited to Attend Dedication 
by the Commission. 



From the Elks' Echo. 

The Commission appointed by the Governor 
of New Jersey under an Act of the Legislature 
of last winter to erect a monument to com- 
memorate the settling of the Holland Dutch 
at the mouth of Timber Creek and the erec- 
tion of Old Fort Nassau in 1G23 under Cap- 
tain Cornelius Jacobese Mey, has completed 
its labors and will formally unveil and dedi- 
cate the monument on November 15th, Satur- 
day, at 2 P. M. 

As the exact site of the old log fort could 
not be found the commission accepted from 
the City of Gloucester, which afterwards be- 
came the shire town of old Gloucester County, 
the use of a plot of ground located on Cum- 
berland Street and Broadway as an appropriate 
site for the monument. There will be a 
parade of the various lodges of Gloucester 
City and nearby towns, as Camden County 
was formerly set off from Gloucester County. 
as well as Atlantic County, and are therefore 
intimately associated with the ancient history 
of Gloucester City as the old shire town of 
Colonial and Revolutionary days. 

Camden Lodge of Elks received a special 
invitation to participate and its marchin.s; 
club will be the Governor's guard of honor. 
Arrangements are being made to get the mem- 
bers to use their automobiles and convey v 
large number to Gloucester City and to par- 
ticipate in the short parade to be held there 
Governor Runyon will accept the monumen 
from the commission and make an appropriat< 
address. Bands will enliven the occasion an<' 
singing by the children will add pleasure t'> 
the event. 

The settlement and erection of Old Fori 
Nassau marks an epochal period in the his- 
tory of West Jersey and the speeches mail' 
on this occasion will rightfully place Gloii 
cester City historically before the world in .-• 
important a position as Plymouth Rock h- 
the Pilgrim Fathers of New England. Nev 
Jersey has a wonderful history and this monv 
ment is the beginning of marking our high! 
interesting places in Camden County. 

37 



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